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SINGAPORE: Twelve Cupcakes founders, Daniel Ong and Jaime Teo, were indicted in court on Tuesday (Dec. 29) of violating labor laws, in the latest in legal trouble for the local bakery chain.
Ong, 45, received 24 counts under the Foreign Labor Employment Act for crimes allegedly committed while in command of the muffin chain.
Ong is accused of allowing Twelve Cupcakes to underpay or fail to pay the salaries of eight foreign employees who had worked at the bakery between September 2012 and December 2016.
Most of the charges are for paying less to the eight employees, whose salaries were set between S $ 2,000 and S $ 2,600 per month.
Ong is also accused of allowing Twelve Cupcakes to fail to pay an employee his S $ 2,000 monthly salary within a stipulated time on three occasions.
Ong arrived in court on Tuesday with his wife Fay Tan. His attorney, Kalaithasan Karuppaya of Regent Law, told the court that he has just been briefed on this case and that he will receive full instructions from his client.
A postponement of four weeks was granted.
Former radio DJ Ong founded Twelve Cupcakes in 2011 with his then-wife Jaime Teo, whom he married in 2007. They divorced in 2016 and sold the company a few months later to the India-based Dhunseri Group, which grew the brand. to 35 points of sale. in Singapore today.
Teo received similar charges after arriving more than an hour late with attorney Diana Ngiam of Quahe Woo & Palmer.
Ms. Ngiam said she was grateful that the prosecution amended the charges to reflect Teo’s negligence in the matter, rather than willful infractions.
“Unfortunately, he left this up to others,” Ms Ngiam said. “However, we are also grateful that the prosecution is seeking a fine.”
She said that Teo intends to plead guilty.
Twelve Cupcakes, under his new ownership, pleaded guilty earlier this month to paying less than S $ 114,000 to seven employees over two years between December 2016 and November 2018.
LEE: Twelve Cupcakes pleads guilty to paying less to foreign employees, the prosecution seeks a fine of 127,000 Singapore dollars
As a mitigation, the lawyer for the new owners said they had continued the practice that was installed by the previous management, by stating on paper a higher wage than the workers actually received.
The prosecution is seeking a fine of S $ 127,000 for Twelve Cupcakes on 15 charges, and 14 other charges will be considered. Sentencing for the signature was postponed until January.
If found guilty of violating the conditions of the work pass, Ong and Teo could be jailed for up to one year, fined up to S $ 10,000, or both per charge.
They will both return to court next month.
